Loonakids: Return of the Unknown Villain
by MileyLoonaticsFan96
Summary: When a "new" villain comes along and targets the Loonatics, the team has to fight to keep it together before everything falls apart. But who is this bad guy(s) and what's going on? Sequel to "Battle for Freedom" (summary isn't good, there's just no way to summarize this)
1. Chapter 1

Loonakids: Return of the Unknown Villain

Told you it'd be up tomorrow! Yay! Well, thanks for reading, reviews will be appreciated, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

_Kelly Coyote was crying. She sat on a bench in Acme Park. Suddenly, someone came up behind her. She stopped crying and looked up to find her lover, Austin Wolfe. She smiled. "How did you know I was here?"_

"_I could find you if we were both blind. We're in love. That's how it works. I'll never leave you." They hugged. "Not even if you killed me."_

_Kelly stopped smiling. She started crying again._

Kelly woke up. She started crying for real. It had been three years and she still wasn't over the loss of her first and only love. She looked around. The clock by her bed said it was 6:57 am. Her brother, Ryan, was in the room, waiting for her to wake up. "You OK?"

"I'm fine, Kelly, I'm just tired," said Ryan, "You would be, too, after last night."

"I had to stay home and look after Gabby, TJ, and Polly with Mom and Dad."

"Whoa, calm down there. Are _you_ OK?"

Kelly said nothing. She plopped her head back on her pillow.

"Dreaming about Austin again?"

Kelly closed her eyes and started to cry again. "I think I know how Dad felt when he thought he had lost Mom."

"Speaking of Mom and Dad," said Ryan, getting out of bed, "we have to go get something to eat eventually and they're probably waiting on us."

Kelly started to get out of bed. She stopped and looked out the window. The curtains were closed. She hadn't let in any sunlight to the room ever since she lost Austin. It was too heart-breaking for her. Suddenly, she couldn't see anything at all. Everything faded from sight.

_In her vision, someone saw her and Austin kissing._

Kelly blinked a few times. Austin was dead. How was it possible for that vision to come true?

"Kelly?" Ryan snapped his fingers. "Kelly!"

Kelly blinked some more. "Sorry, Ryan." She got out of bed and followed her brother to the kitchen to meet the rest of her family. "Hey, guys."

"Uh…hey?" said Danger Duck, her mother's sister's husband.

"Are you OK?" asked Wendy, Duck's wife.

"Kind of," Kelly sighed.

"Dreaming about Austin again?" asked Daniella, Wendy's sister.

Kelly nodded. While everyone went about doing their own thing, she sat at the table thinking about all she'd been through. Suddenly, she noticed the spell book on the table. She picked it up and looked through it. She saw the soul restoration spell. She almost smiled at the memory of the time they used that spell. Too bad it hadn't worked in time. She sighed and slammed the book shut, pushing it away. She went off to her room to get ready, she had morning patrol.

Nearly an hour later, she was walking along, looking around for any sign of trouble…when she came to Crawford Street. The old building on Crawford was where that horrible day took place. She never wanted to remember it, yet she thought of it every second of every day. So now she found herself walking to the scene of the crime, so to speak, and hiding away inside it. She came to the building. She hadn't been there in a year (and even then, it had only been to say one last goodbye—even _that much _took all the strength she had). It was so painful, she felt she'd never love again.

In fact, so far, that had proven true.

She sighed. She walked into the building, forcing the door open and feeling as if the weight of the whole building was coming down on her every footstep. She looked around at the rooms. She finally came to the room with the fireplace where Acathla had rested when the big battle took place.

That's when something caught her eyes.

The ring was gone.

Suddenly, a noise caught her attention. A crashing noise coming from the greenhouse. She thought she heard a squeaking like a rat, which suddenly grew frightened and was shorted out by a savage growling.

A growling like a Vampire.

She thought fast. She reached into her boots, pulling out her wand in one hand and a stake in the other. She cautiously crept towards the noise.

But it couldn't be a Vampire. It was coming from the greenhouse and the sun was up.

Yet there was no other explanation. All the sounds coming from there were Vampiric in nature and the greenhouse was where they were coming from.

So she followed the noise slowly and cautiously. Finally, she came close enough and swung around the corner.

What she saw shocked her so fiercely that she froze. The very moment her eyes met the sight, she dropped the wand and stake to the ground and fell to her knees, staring in shock… "…Austin?"

The grey and white wolf anthro glared at her, showing his Vamp form (darkened fur, golden eyes with red slits for pupils, extremely sharpened teeth). It was really him. Only it wasn't. He was fierce and deadly.

And frightened.

But, though this was not unnoticed, she also caught sight of one thing…

He was wearing the ring. He was still in there.

But there was one thing that caught her attention most of all. He _was _in the sunlight. And he wasn't catching flames. He had been transformed from that time spent in the demon realm. He was a Halfling now.

Like her.

She, on her hands and knees, approached him, slowly but with all the love she could show. "Austin, it's me. You're back…" She reached out.

Suddenly, he lashed out. He hit her hard enough that she fell backwards against the stone floor.

She gathered herself, breathing heavily and broken. She looked at him in shock, her eyes glistening with tears.

Then he caught it. The scent of her blood. He knew that smell. After all, it was the last scent he'd caught before he fell through to the darkness.

He gazed at her, slowly returning. Finally, he approached her slowly. And reverted to his human guise. He looked at her and carefully took her hand in his. "…Kelly?" He then collapsed. He fell against her and let out all the emotions that had collapsed since he'd regained his soul.

And she fell to them, too. She held him close and cried against him, not willing to let go for the world.

Not again.

_Meanwhile…_

In a different part of Acmetropolis, something was going on. A man in a dark cloak with a hood that concealed his facial features and a woman in the same kind of covering were in a dark room in a castle together. They were plotting something.

"The Loonatics and their pesky children will get in our way, brother," said the woman.

"Peace, dear sister, our time will come," said the man, "I know what we have to do. The Loonatics will do anything for their children, even give up their lives and powers. We must force them to do that and then destroy them all and no one can stand in our way. If no one is able to stop us, we will be all-powerful in every realm of this land. The time will come for their families to fall apart, and, when it does, the two of us shall rule over Acmetropolis and all of its dimensions."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Perhaps now is a good time to really introduce the Loonakids' siblings.

Gabby Coyote had just recently turned 6. She was getting smarter daily and looked a lot like her mom. She had the same fur color, same green eyes…different powers, though.

TJ was a lot like his dad. Same fur, same hazel-tinted green eyes…different powers again. He was very smart, too, but easily excited or scared, so Buddy tended to pull pranks on him (I'll get to Buddy in a second).

Polly was the only coyote who had fur and hair, being a blonde with her dad's same fur color. She had her mom's eyes, though, and she was very powerful and strong-willed for her age.

Buddy Bunny was going to be 6 in a few months, but was only 5-and-three-quarters at the moment. He had the same silver and white fur as his brothers and father and same emerald eyes as his mom, but still different powers. He was a bit of a practical joker. The one thing that will set him off is if someone takes his hat. He was always wearing his dad's old baseball cap, backwards so that his ears point down, and he didn't like it when anybody besides his dad and himself messed with it.

Penny had her mom's fur (only slightly darker) and her dad's sapphire eyes. She was slightly taller than Buddy for some reason and loved to take his cap off and put it in places he couldn't reach so that their mom had to come along and give it back. She had a ribbon (just like her mom's except lavender instead of green) wrapped around her ears, but she wore it not only so that it held her ears slightly tilted to the left but also in a bow instead of a knot.

Oliver did have the same fur and eyes as his dad, but he had the same kind of attitude as his mom. He liked hanging out with his family and friends and enjoyed their company, but he wasn't so happy when his two eldest sisters and oldest brother had to leave to go on some crazy mission.

Virginia will never let go of her inner child. She loved to draw and paint and such and she had a power to make her work move, but she didn't get to really use the fun ones anymore, because her power would sometimes cause bad things to happen. She had the same fur and eyes as her mom and really enjoyed hanging out with Penny, the two sisters being very close, but she was the shortest of all of the kids and didn't really get to have much fun with Buddy like Penny did.

Dakota Duck wasn't much like her brother and father. She wasn't shallow and self-absorbed. She was more like her mother, with a short temper and an attitude of getting what she wanted. She was still a duck with black feathers, but she had her mother's eyes and her mother's blonde hair.

Last, but not least (I'm not certain who _is_ least), was Rebekka Runner. She had light blue feathers, like her dad's mom, and violet eyes, and no one knew where she got them from. She had shoulder-length brown hair, like her mom (except her mom's hair reached down to her elbows, not her shoulders) and was very hyper half the time, like her dad, except not as fast and high-energy.

Anyway, Ryan was curious as to where Kelly was and went out to look for her. He eventually came to the place where Austin had disappeared three years before. _Maybe…no, why would she wait until now? Then again…what did she see this morning?_ Ryan snuck in. He went down a hall and found a small door. He went through it and looked around. He saw something. It was blocked by a bunch of trees. He went to the trees and pushed back a couple branches. _No way…_ Kelly and Austin were kissing and her vision had come true. Ryan ran back home.

Kelly pulled away. "Wait, we can't. I had a vision that someone might see us."

"And you waited until now to tell me?" Austin asked.

"Sorry, I was caught up in having you back and I—Oh, forget this." She kissed him again.

_Later…_

Kelly came into the living room to find the rest of the group assembled there. "Is this something about me?"

"No, no…yeah," Sophie said.

"Alright, what happened now?" Kelly asked, sitting down next to her dad.

"We know you brought Austin back," Daniella answered.

"Who followed me?"

"It was Ryan!" Sarah and Michael both answered without hesitation, pointing at their brother.

"What happened to 'one for all'?" Ryan demanded.

"And all for one," Sarah corrected.

"Look, the problem is not me, it's the fact that our sister is harboring a vicious killer!" Kelly gave her brother a look. "I…forgot that you were there?"

"Nice try, it's not working," Kelly sneered.

"Well, you gotta admit he has a point," Lucy said, "Last time he was around here, he tried to kill us all!"

"Which I am never gonna let happen again!" Kelly stood up. "He's better now."

"Better for how long exactly?" Jack stood up, too. "Did you think about that?"

"What is this, some sort of intervention?" Kelly asked.

"Well, that was what we were going for, but—" Wendy started.

"Look, I was going to tell you as soon as I got back this morning, but I was afraid of how you were gonna take it and decided to wait—"

"Until what?" Duck stood up this time. "Until he goes all psycho again and actually succeeds in killing someone next time you give him a happy?"

Sophie covered Gabby and TJ's ears. "You want to keep the death talk away from the children?"

"Look, I was wrong, OK?" Kelly practically yelled, "Do you want it in writing?"

"Well…" Jack started.

"That's it, I'm out of here." Kelly started to walk to the hall.

Sarah got up and followed her sister. "Look, I think that when it comes to Austin you can't see straight, so this time we intend to help as much as we can to—"

"Austin was cured when I killed him, OK?!" Kelly yelled. And everyone went into shock. Kelly just turned her back on them and went over to the hall.

"Aha!" Archer, the family beagle, jumped onto the table. "Even _you_ knew he couldn't be good!"

Kelly whipped around, now in Vampire form. "Back off!"

Archer jumped into Sophie's lap. "OK!"

Kelly turned back around, reverted to normal, and left.

"The spell worked?" Sarah asked after a moment of stunned silence. She turned back to her family. "How come she didn't tell us?"

Tech didn't wait for an answer. He got up and followed his eldest daughter.

"OK, am I out of the loop here or something?" Sophie asked, "Is this some sort of father-daughter thing?"

"Or respect of privacy?" Nadine suggested. Everyone looked at her. "No, that's not it."

In her room, Kelly kicked her bed. "Ow!" She started jumping up and down, holding onto her foot.

Tech came in. "Is this a private thing?"

Kelly looked at him. "I just…" She put her foot down. "I missed him."

"I know." Tech closed the door and sat down. Kelly sat down next to him. "I know I never liked him but if you're willing to take a risk like that, I guess I'll have to get used to it."

Kelly smiled. "I…he changed."

"Huh?"

"He was changed when he fell to the demon realm. At first, he was just different in that…he was dark and monstrous and…but it's still him. He's still back. And he can't lose his soul now. And since this didn't come about at the beginning of his changes, we don't have to worry about the full moon cycle thing like I had to."

"What are you talking about?"

She looked at him, still smiling but now tearing up as well. "I saw him. Walking through sunlight. He didn't burst, it was more…more like me. He's a Halfling now."

Tech blinked in shock. That was news he hadn't expected. "Well…how do we know the spell's gonna hold up?"

"It's not a spell, it's…it's him. He's…like me now. Wolfe is out of him, he got rid of him somehow."

"We don't know that. If he came back as dark as you say, who's to say nothing else has changed?"

_Even later…_

Kelly and Austin fell on the bed in the old building.

"You sure this is safe?" Austin asked her.

"I don't know, but just trust me on this." Kelly kissed him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nadine was alone in her room. Then there was a knock at the door. "Come in."

Ryan walked in.

Nadine sighed. "What do you want?"

"That's not really a nice way to talk to your husband."

Nadine ran over to the door and shut it. "We haven't told anyone, remember? And after this morning, I don't intend to anytime soon."

"Relax. So we eloped during a mission and didn't tell anyone." Nadine gave him a look. "Alright, maybe that is a little…"

"Insensitive? Inappropriate? Unfocused?"

"Yes, yes, and yes."

"So…all of the above."

"Look, I think that we shouldn't keep them out of the loop."

"And how do you think they'd take it if we told them that Kelly wasn't the only one keeping secrets?"

_Meanwhile…_

"Maybe they'll understand," Sarah suggested.

"Yeah, right!" Benny said, pacing around her room, "You saw how the intervention with Kelly went."

"Look, she made a bad choice. She felt bad. She made it right in her eyes. So what if we took it a little hard because she didn't tell us immediately?"

"Yeah, and they're gonna take it the same way with us because we didn't tell them immediately that the two of us eloped during a mission."

"Hey, you're the one that proposed without…actually proposing."

_Also meanwhile…_

"Well, I didn't think it'd get this bad," Robert told Lucy, dropping onto his bed.

"Oh, please, it's not like we eloped during a mission and didn't tell anyone," Lucy said, sitting down next to him.

"I know, but we…you know. And we didn't…you know."

"It was one night! It's not like they're gonna hold it against us forever!"

_Meanwhile again…_

"They're probably going to hold it against us forever you know," Brenda told Jack as he sat down on his bed.

"True, but hey! It was fun while it lasted!"

"Jack, one kiss does not count as a relationship." Jack glared at her. "OK, maybe it does, but still!"

_Again meanwhile…_

"I still think that if we told them that Kelly wasn't the only one having a secret relationship," Madelyn ranted to Michael as she looked out the window of her room, "that they'd be totally against us."

"Yeah, right!" Michael said, coming over to her, "When we took you back in after Austin switched, we knew that something was bound to happen. I thought there was something going on with the two of us from the start." He then considered that. "And I never told them. Oh, boy, I never told anyone but you! They really are going to hold it against us forever!"

Madelyn kissed him, making him shut up.

"OK, never mind then."

Madelyn sighed. "I never thought that a Protector hiding her Quests for four years would result in such mania."

"Hey, at least Tiara didn't get to you and Kelly. And as long as we can protect you, nothing bad is going to happen from now on."

_Like I said, meanwhile…_

"Something bad is going to happen," Austin said. He kissed Kelly again.

Kelly pushed him off. "Yeah, right. I think I would've seen it instead of dreaming about you." She pulled him back in.

Austin pulled away. "You were dreaming about me?"

"Beside the point." Kelly pulled him back in…again.

_Do I really need to clarify again?…_

"It's beside the point, Tech!" Sophie scolded her husband as they walked towards the building Austin and Kelly were in.

"What is?"

Sophie and Tech both jumped and whirled around to see Duck standing there. "What're you doing?" The two coyotes looked at each other.

"OK, that's creepy."

"What's creepy is that you neglected to mention the fact that you were tagging along," Tech said. He started walking down the street again with Sophie following.

Duck started going after them. "Wend and Danni were talking about magic again, and I felt out of the loop, so I decided to come see what Kelly and wolf boy were up to." He pushed his way past Kelly's parents and walked into the building. "Sometimes I wonder—WHOA!"

Kelly and Austin noticed Duck and fell off the bed. Luckily, they fell off the other side. Kelly quickly pulled herself back under the covers and Austin pulled himself back up.

"What are you doing here?" Kelly demanded.

"Well, we were going to come see how wolf boy was doing after three years in hell, but it looks like he's just fine!" Duck stormed over. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh…testing to see if half-Vamps can lose their soul?"

"Oh, it's bad enough that we've seen Austin's demon-y side, now you wanna get a glimpse of yours?"

Austin looked at Kelly. "You didn't tell them?"

Kelly looked back and forth between her boyfriend and uncle. "Well…I told Dad!"

"Oh, great," Sophie said, "What'd you tell Tech now that you neglected to mention to us?"

Kelly zapped herself and got out of the bed in her usual clothes. She zapped Austin to the same effect. "I tweaked the spell that brought him back. He's half-Vampire like me now. That's what I meant by him being better!"

Duck looked back and forth between the two. "Oh."

Before Kelly could come up with a comeback…

(Hannah Montana's "Best of Both Worlds" plays)

"Oh, what now?!" Kelly took out her cell phone and walked over to the other side of the room. "What is it, guys?"

"_Kelly! Problem!"_

"OK, OK, Sarah! Relax! I'll be down there right away." She hung up. "I gotta go."

"That sounded urgent." Austin went over to her. "And yes, I heard it from over there."

"Yeah, do you think by 'problem' she meant something involving Vampires?" Duck asked, coming over, too, "And yes, I heard it from over there, too!"

"I don't know, let's go find out." Kelly walked out and Austin and Duck followed.

Before Sophie could follow, Tech pulled her to the side. "Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you sounded a little…upset when you asked her about what she'd told me. And I was being nice, I think 'upset' is an understatement."

Sophie sighed. "I just feel like I'm missing out on my daughter's life. She's telling you everything! And Sarah and Ryan and Michael have all seemed a little…off lately and I don't know what's wrong."

"I noticed that, too. Look, Kelly and I have a bond that can't be broken. That's it. And then the whole group got her all upset again and she had to rant to me and I apparently gave her an idea that she just had to test."

"You told her to…" Sophie shuddered. "…Austin again?"

"Well…that's not exactly what I said."

"Let's just go see what's up with the team right now."

"Oh, it's probably nothing."

_An hour later…_

"This is serious," Madelyn told the gang as soon as they'd collected at HQ.

"Vampire?" asked Kelly.

Madelyn shook her head. "My senses warned me that something was going on…again. And I don't like the feeling. That tells me it's not anything as minor as one simple Vampire or even a nest."

"So we know something's up," Benny said, "and it's not something that we can turn to dust by poking it in the heart with a pointy wooden stick."

Brenda sighed. "Well, whatever it is, we can handle it. We've been through a lot together. And as long as Kelly and Austin are out in the open…we don't have any more secrets between us."

Sarah nodded. "Yep."

"Uh-huh," Ryan said.

"Great," Lucy added.

"No problem whatsoever," Michael pointed out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

While Madelyn was telling the group about what her powers had been sensing, the evil brother and sister were in their lair again.

"That is it!" the woman suddenly exclaimed, sitting cross-legged on the floor, "I'm tired of waiting! When are we going to strike?!"

"Patience, Jesse!" the man said, crouching down next to her, "Our time will come!"

Jesse pulled her hood down to reveal her dark hair and eyes and pale skin. "You keep saying that, brother, but so far I've not seen anything to promote a plan!"

The man slammed his fist on the floor. The floor in front of them split open and revealed a glowing chasm. "We'll throw them in here and send them to hell when we get the chance."

"Hunter, the Fang Gang tried that already a few years back."

Hunter pulled down his hood to reveal his own dark hair and eyes and pale skin. "Yeah, but that was completely different." He closed the pit. "We need time to get this right."

"And to come up with a better plan."

"Do you have one? Didn't think so!"

Typical brother and sister, evil or not.

_A week later…_

The group was collected in the living room, researching silently.

Jack suddenly slammed his book shut and dropped it on the table. "This is ridiculous! If we don't know anything about this thing other than that it's not a Vampire, how are we going to find out what it is? Let alone defeat it!"

"Jack, we can do this!" Sarah snapped.

"I'll deal with him," Brenda said, getting up from her seat and dragging Jack down the hall to his room. She shut the door behind her. "Look, I get it. You're worried they're going to find out about us. We need to calm down and get over it or we're going to straight out tell them by accident."

"OK! OK!" Jack started to open the door to leave and turned back. "Can we kiss and make up?"

"I don't wanna make up! But I'm cool with the other part."

The two kissed. When they came back, they saw that the door was cracked.

"AHA!" They both jumped at that voice. Archer was looking at them from the floor. "I knew it! Well, not 'knew it' in the sense of actually having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn't know! Oh, I can't wait to tell the others." He started to run off. Jack ran after him. Archer came into the living room. "Hey, guys! Jack and Brenda—"

Jack tackled Archer to the ground behind the couch.

"Uh, Jack!" Sarah tried to stop them, leaning over the back of the couch, "We kind of already knew you two were dating!"

The fight stopped. Jack got up. "Really?"

"Well, at least I did."

"No, we all knew," Ryan added, "I thought I heard something suspicious from the hall the night you two made out."

Jack's eyes started darting back and forth. "Oh."

"Wait, I didn't know they were together!" Wendy said.

"Then I guess it was a confession," Brenda said, coming into the room.

Nadine sighed. "Well, while we're confessing…"

Ryan stopped her. "We tell them now? Are you serious?"

"Ryan!" Ryan backed off. Nadine turned back to them. "We're married."

Everyone looked at them.

"Did we miss something?" asked Lexi.

"Perhaps now is a good time to mention that Benny and I are married," Sarah added.

"Yeah, we missed something," Sophie answered.

"Yeah, and Mike and Mad are dating, too," Kelly said, jokingly.

"How'd you know that?" Michael asked. Everyone looked at him.

"I think she didn't," Madelyn said.

Michael realized his mistake. "Oops."

Everyone looked at Lucy and Robert. After a few seconds, they looked at each other, sighed, and nodded.

"I knew we were missing something," Tech said.

"Oh, well," Sophie said, "At least we know what's going on now."

_A year later…_

"I still have no idea what's going on," said Madelyn.

"I'll tell you what's going on," Jack said, "NOTHING!"

The group was in the foyer of the tower, discussing the situation. Nothing majorly exciting had happened since the group admitted their couple-ness (at least not in comparison to the usual superhero daily routine).

"You know what?" Kelly broke in, "We just need a break. We've been working our tails off—almost literally—trying to figure out what this thing is and how to stop it. We probably don't even need to worry about it! It's probably another super Vamp that Mad doesn't realize is the problem. That stuff we can handle."

"Kelly's right," Benny said, "We need to relax and take a break."

"Yeah, we should be fine," said Jack, "As long as nothing bad happens."

"WHAT'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND SAY THAT FOR?!" Sarah cried.

"WHAT?! Nothing bad is gonna happen!"

"Well, yeah," said Nadine, "until the dummy says 'as long as nothing bad happens'!"

"It's the ultimate jinx!" said Sarah, "Right up there with 'What could possibly go wrong?' OH! I just said it!"

"What were you thinking?" Lucy asked, "Or were you even thinking at all?"

"You don't know that!" Jack intercepted, "Maybe this time will be different."

"Jack's right," Brenda defended her boyfriend, "It's probably something we've faced before."

"Oh, please!" Wendy cut in, "What kind of moron, evil or not, would ever wanna come back here?"

_Across town…_

An old car smashed into the "Welcome to Downtown Acmetropolis" sign. The car skidded to a halt and Sean popped out of the front seat. "Home, sweet…home."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Damiana!" Sean yelled as he came into the burned-down old, abandoned factory, "I'm home!" He looked around the place. He came over to the old bedroom that had been his girlfriend's and saw some old [slightly singed] dolls lying on the bed (previously Damiana's torture victims). "Why'd you do it? Why'd you leave me? We were happy here." He grabbed an iron candlestick. "YOU…" He swung it at the doll. "STUPID…" Swing. "WORTHLESS…" Another swing. "BRAT!" He pierced the doll, breaking it into bits. "Look what you've done to me." He walked off.

_Meanwhile…_

Robert was walking down a street.

"Hey."

Robert whirled around. It was Nadine. "You scared me! What do you want?"

"Well, I was kind of scared for you to be out here all alone considering there's something out here. My sister would kill me if I let her husband die." Yeah, Lucy and Robert had married. And if you're wondering about Michael and Madelyn or Kelly and Austin, no, they hadn't yet. And Jack hadn't even gotten up the courage to propose to Brenda yet.

"Nadine, I'm a Warlock and you're not a Witch. I can control all four elements, you can merely summon one. I can protect myself better than you can. Now get out before my cousin kills me for letting his wife die."

"No, I'm not leaving."

"Alright then." Sean came up behind her and knocked her down.

"Nadine!" Robert cried. He started to race to help his cousin's wife, but Sean knocked him back into a tree. Nadine tried to get up, but Sean backhanded her, knocking her out cold.

Sean looked at Robert. "I need to borrow you for a second."

_At the warehouse…  
__A few minutes later…_

Nadine was laid out on what was left of Damiana's old bed. Robert was sitting on the edge of it, fidgeting nervously. He had dropped his stake and wand in the street when Sean had knocked him over.

Sean was pacing in front of him. "Now here's the thing. You're going to do a spell for me."

"Uh…what? What kind of spell?"

"A love spell! I'm gonna get what's mine. Teach her to walk out on me." He looked at Robert. "You can do it, right?"

"Well, uh…I'll try—"

Sean grabbed him by the neck, choking him. "What do you mean 'try'? You'll do it!"

"OK! OK! I'll do it!"

Sean let go and leaned against the bedpost. "She wouldn't even kill me." He sat down next to Robert. "She just left. She didn't even care enough to cut off my head or set me on fire. It was the truce with your buddies that did it. She said I'd gone soft. Wasn't demon enough for the likes of her. We got to Acme Brazil and she was just…different. I gave her everything: beautiful jewels, beautiful dresses with beautiful girls in them, but nothing made her happy. And she would…flirt! I caught her on a park bench making out with some chaos demon. Have you ever seen a chaos demon? All slimy with antlers, they're disgusting! She only did it to hurt me. So I said 'Fine, I'm not putting up with this anymore. I've got an un-life, too, you know!' And then she said…she said we could still be friends!" He leaned over and started crying. "Man, I'm so unhappy!"

Robert patted his back. "There, there."

"I mean, friends! How could she be so cruel?!" He stopped and looked at Nadine. "That smell…"

Robert pulled him away. "Oh, no, you don't!"

Sean was in his game face, making Robert jump back when he looked at him. "Back off! I haven't had a woman in weeks!"

"Whoa! Hold on! I'll do your spell for you, but there will be no 'having' of any kind with her!" He thought about that. "Or me!"

Sean reverted back to his human guise. "Alright, let's get started."

"Whoa, wait. I'm premature. I don't know if this is gonna work."

"Well, if at first you don't succeed, I'll kill her, you try again."

"OK, fine!" Robert backed away. "But…I need my wand. And some ingredients to make a potion. And a spell book!"

Sean crossed his arms. "Alright."

_At the tower…_

Daniella approached Madelyn with a book. "Is this the thing you've been sensing?"

Madelyn looked at it. "No, but…" She shuddered.

Ryan and Lucy ran in.

"Something's wrong," Lucy said.

"What is it?" asked Sophie.

"Come on!" Ryan led them to the street where Nadine and Robert had been. The tree was knocked over [slightly] and Robert's stake was lying on the ground next to it.

Kelly Vamped and sniffed and then turned back to normal. "I don't smell any blood. Wait…maybe a little."

"Well, there was obviously a fracas," Ryan said.

Brenda looked around. "I see a stake but no ashes."

"Well, maybe they were taken," Kelly suggested, "or they ran and dropped it, or—"

"You're having too many ors!" Jack cried, "Pick one!"

"That's it, I'm going back." Daniella ran back to HQ to check on the kids. But on her way in…

"Hello, Danni."

Daniella whirled around and saw Sean standing there.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"So I'm strolling through the park," Sean ranted, sitting next to Daniella on the couch in the foyer, "looking for a meal, and I just so happen to walk by the bench and see her making out with a chaos demon. So I said 'You know, I don't have to put up with this.' And she said 'Fine!' And I said 'Fine! Do whatever you like!' I thought we were going to make up."

"She sounds pretty unreasonable," Daniella said.

"She is. She's out of her mind! That's what I miss most about her."

Austin just so happened to walk by about then and see the two of them through a window. He ran for it and pushed his way through the front door.

Daniella gasped and then realized it was him and stood up. "You scared me!"

"What do you expect from him?" asked Sean.

"Well, for one thing, I'd think he'd be a little more cautious of our feelings now that he's all half-human."

Sean stared at the two. "What?"

Austin glared at Sean. "Yeah, they were all kind of confused with that. You touch her and I'll cut your head off!"

"Oh, yeah?" Sean grabbed Daniella. "You and what army?"

"That'd be us." Kelly knocked him back. She got out a stake.

"Robert!"

Kelly stopped. "You took him."

Sean smiled. "You do me now, you'll never find the little Warlock."

"And Nadine?" Benny asked as he and the others raced in. Except for Ryan and Lucy, who had gone off to look for their spouses.

"Her, too."

Austin Vamped, grabbed Sean by the neck of his shirt, and pinned him to the wall. "Where are they?"

"Doesn't work like that," Sean said, pushing him off, "And since when did you get all soulful again? I thought you outgrew that." He looked back at Kelly. "Your cousin's gonna do a spell for me. He does it right, I let them both go."

"You're not really famous for keeping promises," Kelly pointed out.

"Fine. If you and your friends wanna tag along, go ahead. But if you get in my way, you've killed them both."

_Meanwhile…_

Ryan and Lucy were walking down a street.

"Oh," Lucy worried, "what if they were kidnapped by Colombian drug lords? They could be cutting off Robert's ear right now…or other parts." She shuddered. Ryan suddenly stopped, making her stop. "What?"

"Nadine."

"Ooh, Witch's sense is tingling? Er…Warlock sense?"

Ryan nodded. "She's afraid…and unconscious." He ran off in the right direction.

Lucy followed. "OK, this is kind of disturbing!"

"I completely agree!"

_Back with the gang…_

Daniella was pawing through her potions bag as the group (except for Slam, who had stayed to watch the kids) walked down a different street.

"Could you hurry?" Sean complained, "I…" He stopped at a bench. "Oh, boy."

"What now?" Duck groaned.

"We killed a homeless man on this bench, me and Dame. Those were good times." Sean sat down on it. "You know, he begged for mercy. That only made her bite harder."

Kelly stared at him. "Guess you had to be there." She continued on.

Daniella followed. "I think I used the last of these ingredients on that spell to kill that pterodactyl last week."

"No problem." Kelly came to a magic shop, Vamped, and kicked down the door. "Give me the list." Daniella handed it to her. "'Essence of violet, cloves'…" She looked at them. "Jack!"

"Looking!" Jack started pawing through the shelves with the others.

"'Set of runic tablets…' Sean, you're getting the rat's eyes."

Sean sighed. "I used to bring her rats with the morning paper."

"Oh, great, more moping," Brenda commented, "That's gonna get her back."

"The spell's gonna get her back."

"Lot of trouble for someone who doesn't really care about you," Austin said.

"Shut up!" Sean yelled.

"You know, she always was pretty fickle."

"SHUT UP!" Sean punched him in the face. Austin punched him back. Kelly pushed the two apart. "What do you know?! It's your fault, the both of you! She belongs with me! I'm nothing without her!"

"Now that I can agree with!" Kelly shouted, "You're pathetic! You're not even a loser! You're a shell of a loser!"

"Yeah, you're one to talk."

"Meaning?"

"Oh, come on! The last time I saw you two, you were in a fight to the death. Now you're back making googly-eyes at each other like nothing ever happened! Love isn't brains, kiddies, it's blood. Blood boiling, screaming inside you to work its will. And I may be love's little lapdog, but at least I'm man enough to admit it." He grabbed a bottle on a table. "Eye of rat."

_Back at the factory…_

Robert was pounding against the door with his shoulder. He'd worn out with powers and his magic before realizing Damiana had made it magic-proof. Now he was just desperate. Then he saw Nadine stirring. "Nadine!" He ran over there and helped her sit up. "Are you OK?"

"Dizzy. What happened? Do I remember a fight with Sean?" Robert nodded. "We won, right?"

"Not really. We're locked in the basement of the factory."

"That burnt up a few years back and is now pretty much in the middle of nowhere?" Robert nodded again. "So we're basically in a 'scream all you want' scenario. Why didn't he just kill us?"

"He wants me to do a love spell for him. Damiana broke up with him."

"Wow. And I'd really hoped those two crazy kids would work it out. So what are our options?"

"I think…I refuse to do the spell and he kills us, I mess up the spell and he kills us, or I do the spell right…and he still kills us."

Nadine blinked. "Give me a fourth option."

"He's so drunk he forgets about us and we starve to death, which is pretty much the best one on the list."

"We are not going to die! Alright, he's drunk. As soon as he gets back, he'll be weak and we can make our move. And as long as my part of the move doesn't involve standing or using my limbs, we'll be OK."

Robert smiled. "Relax, I won't let anything happen to you."

Nadine didn't need to hear anymore. She made what use she could of her arms and hugged him.

Unfortunately, it was that moment that Ryan and Lucy came in.

Nadine and Robert separated and looked at them.

Nadine stammered. "I-It's not what it looks like."

"We have to get out of here," Ryan said, trying to hide his disappointment.

Lucy couldn't say anything. She was heartbroken and crying. She ran out of the room. But halfway up the charred stairs, they caved in below her.

"Lucy!" Robert ran after her, hearing the occurrence. He scrambled up the steps and looked in the hole. "Lucy!"

Lucy looked at him. "I fell…" She looked at the iron bar protruding from her abdomen, just below her ribcage.

_Back with the others…_

The group left the magic shop.

"Alright, Sean," Kelly said, "We've got what you need. Where are they?"

"What's your hurry?"

"My hurry is to get you out of my life as soon as possible."

"I'll be out of your life in a few short hours. No trouble at all."

A group of Vampires surrounded them.

"Sean," said the leader.

"No trouble at all," Kelly said, her arms crossed as she glared at Sean.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Lenny," Sean said to the lead Vamp, "How've you been?"

"Better since you left," said Lenny, "You should've stayed gone."

"Is that right?" Sean asked, glaring and throwing the bag to the side.

"You know, he was just leaving." Madelyn pushed Sean backed. "Don't you start anything."

"Stay out of this, Protector!" Lenny snapped, "And you and your little super friends can just walk away!"

"I die, your friends die," said Sean.

"Sorry, we're staying," Sophie said.

"Not for long!" Lenny attacked.

And so the fight started. Brenda staked two…make that three…nope, four. Anyway, Madelyn kicked a few Vamps away from Michael, who was frantically trying to decide which animal to turn into. Before he could, one of them grabbed him.

"Michael!" Madelyn cried.

"You should've stayed out of this, Protector!" the Vampire yelled, moving in for the bite.

Madelyn kicked him back. Unfortunately, a Protector isn't near as strong as a Slayer and the Vamp was too strong for her, knocking her back onto the sidewalk. Michael turned into a cheetah and clawed at the Vamp, pushing him away and giving Kelly a chance to stake him.

Austin punched one Vamp in the face, knocking him through the window of the shop. Austin jumped through the window and ran behind the shopkeeper's desk. While the other Vamps were gaining on him, he smashed the chair to use the legs as stakes. He grabbed one and immediately went back to work.

"This should be a kick," Sean said, standing back-to-back with Tech.

"I violently dislike you," Tech said, his eyes glowing green, before heading back into the battle.

_Meanwhile…_

Robert carefully climbed into the hole with Lucy. "It's gonna be OK, Lucy. Don't move."

Nadine looked at Ryan, getting up from the bed carefully as her strength returned, fearing for her sister. "Go get help." Ryan ran off.

_Back with the others…_

Lenny pinned Sean to a case. "I heard you'd gone soft. Sad to see it, man."

"Soft?" Sean grabbed a bottle of eye of newt and smashed it on Lenny's head.

Austin tried to open the back door, but it caved in on him and pinned him to the ground, letting in a few more Vampires.

Kelly ran over, staked a few Vamps, and then helped Austin up. "Are you OK?"

Austin just looked at the front window that hadn't been smashed. "That window's about to go."

Kelly looked at the violently shaking bookcase and then at a table display in the front…of holy water.

Sean finally pinned down Lenny. He grabbed a nearby smashed table leg and used it as a stake, making Lenny burst into ashes. He stood up and dropped the wooden table leg on the floor. "How's that for soft?"

"Sean! Get down!" Kelly commanded. Sean did so as the window burst, knocking down the shelf. Sean rolled out of the way before the shelf could fall on him. Kelly and Austin immediately started throwing bottles of holy water at any Vampire that came in, making them fall into hasty retreat.

Sean stood up. "Now that was fun!"

The group collected in the shop, looking around at the damage they'd done.

"Alright," Kelly said, "let's just get the things from the street, do a quick healing spell or two, and do this stupid love spell."

"Oh, forget the stupid love spell!" Sean said, "Your friends are at the factory." They all looked at him in shock. "I'm really glad I came here. I've been all wrong about this, weeping, crawling, blaming everyone else. I just gotta be the man I was. The man she loved. I'll do what I should've done in the first place: find her wherever she is, tie her up, and torture her until she likes me again." He walked off. Before leaving, he turned back to them. "Love's a funny thing."

_Back at the factory…_

"Lucy!" Robert cried as Nadine came up to the hole, "Come on, baby! Please hold on!"

"Rob…I can't see you…" Lucy closed her eyes.

"Lucy!" Robert cried. But she wouldn't respond.

_The next morning…_

Lucy was in a bed in the medical wing of HQ.

Robert came in, holding a huge bouquet of flowers. "Can I come in?" No response. He laid the bouquet on the table by her bed. Still nothing. "Those are flowers." Lucy stared at him blankly. "Look, I wanted you to know that I…"

"Robert?"

Robert smiled, hopefully. "Yeah?"

"Stay away from me."

Robert's smile faded. He hung his head and left the room.

While all this went on, Benny and Sarah were talking.

"We can't do this, Benny," Sarah said, "We can't be together."

Benny stared at her. "I know that. I just can't believe it." He left.

(Ashley Tisdale's "How Do You Love Someone" plays in background)

Michael came up to Madelyn, who was looking out the window of the living room (which was pretty much half the walls). "Hey, Mad. How you doing?"

Madelyn looked at him. "I've been thinking. After tonight, I…I realized what I have to do. And I am sorry, for both of us, that it took me this long." Michael smiled, hopefully…and then stopped when he saw that she was handing him back their engagement ring. "I'm leaving." Michael stared at her as she walked off.

_Momma never told me how to love_

_Daddy never told me how to feel_

_Momma never told me how to touch_

_Daddy never showed me how to heal_

Jack saw Brenda lying on his bed. He pulled an engagement ring out of his pocket and immediately knew what he had to do. He went in to talk to her.

_Momma never set a good example_

_Daddy never held Momma's hands_

_Momma found everything hard to handle_

_Daddy never stood up like a man_

_I've walked around_

_Broken_

_Emotionally frozen_

_Getting it on_

_Getting it wrong_

Jack sat down next to Brenda on the bed. "Hi."

She smiled at him. "Hi."

_How do you love someone_

_Without getting hurt?_

_How do you love someone_

_Without crawling in the dirt?_

_So far in my life_

_Clouds have blocked the sun_

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

Jack looked at the ring again and then at Brenda. "Can I ask you something?" he asked her at the same time she said it. They smiled at each other. "You go first," he said.

_I was always a chosen child_

_Their biggest scandal I became_

_They told me I'd never survive_

_But survival's my middle name_

"I…" Brenda said, "I wanna be friends."

Jack stared at her, confused. "But we are friends."

"No…just friends."

_I've walked around_

_Hoping_

_Just barely coping_

_Getting it on_

_Getting it wrong_

Jack processed this turn of events. "Wow. I totally should've gone first." Jack got up. "OK. Bye." He left, dropping the ring on her table as he left.

_How do you love someone_

_Without getting hurt?_

_How do you love someone_

_Without crawling in the dirt?_

_So far in my life_

_Clouds have blocked the sun_

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

Nadine knocked on Ryan's door. "Ryan, it's me. We need to talk."

Ryan just stared out the window.

"Look, it wasn't what it looked like, we were just… I'm your wife, you have to trust me. You can't just faze me out like this, please!" Nothing. She started crying and ran off.

Ryan looked at the door and sighed.

_It's hard to talk_

_To say what's deep inside_

Kelly looked at Austin in his building. "Hey." He smiled at her. "We need to talk." He stopped smiling.

_It's hard to tell_

_The truth_

_When you've always lied_

"This isn't gonna work. We still don't know if the Halfling thing is working or not. Duck interrupted every time we got close to the true happiness thing. And I can fool my family, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself. Or Sean for some reason. What I want from you, I can never have. I'm not coming back here." She started to leave.

"There's gotta be some way we can still be together," Austin stopped her.

She sighed and looked at him. "There is. Tell me you don't love me." He said nothing, knowing it would be a lie. She left, trying to hide the tears.

_How do you love someone_

_Without getting hurt?_

Austin sat down on the couch, staring sadly into space.

_How do you love someone_

_Without crawling in the dirt?_

Michael was waiting in the foyer of the tower. Madelyn came down, carrying her suitcase, stared at him for a few seconds, and then walked past him and left.

_So far in my life_

_Clouds have blocked the sun_

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

Brenda sat on her bed, sobbing until her eyes were dry. Just when she thought she was done, she looked at Jack's picture on her bedside table and the tears returned.

Jack, meanwhile, just sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

_How do you love someone_

_And make it last?_

Benny was sitting on the couch in the living room. Sarah came in from the hall and looked at him for a few seconds before running off again.

_How do you love someone_

_Without tripping on the past?_

Nadine sat on her bed, her legs crossed, playing idly with her wedding ring.

Ryan did the same in his room before finally tossing it in the top drawer of his desk.

_So far in my life_

_Clouds have blocked the sun_

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

Robert was reading a book. Finally, he just dropped it on the floor.

Lucy, meanwhile, stared at the flowers at her bedside.

_How do you love_

_How do you love_

_Someone?_

_Someone… _

Kelly sat on the roof, looking sadly out at the sunset and remembering when she and Austin would do that together.

Tech came up to the door that led to the roof, looked at his daughter, sighed, and walked off.

While all this went on, Sean was racing his car out of town, singing to "Go Your Own Way" by Clique Girlz, which was blaring on the radio._ " __…You can go your own way! You can call it another lonely day! You can go your own way… _"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_A month later…_

Daniella was in her room, flipping through some old books. Things had been oddly depressing around the place since the couples had broken up. Suddenly, she stopped flipping and her eyes widened. "No way." She raced to the conference room. She started typing away…and got confused. "Fine." She zapped the computer. After it hacked itself, it brought up a few old files. She zapped again and watched the old security videos. "Yes, yes! Wait…should I be upset? Nah, I'm too happy for them." She quickly turned off the computer and got out her wand. A quick spell…twice…three times…made her even happier. She raced to the medical wing. Lucy had finally recovered that morning and was now getting ready to move back to her room. Daniella stopped her before she could. "Lucy, I need to talk to you. It's about Robert."

"No." Lucy started to leave, but Daniella stopped her again.

"It's important."

"I know! It was a friendly hug! They weren't cheating on us—"

"Better. While that is true…you're pregnant."

Lucy stared at her. "What?"

"You heard me. Robert got his kid in you. Don't you think his Warlock sense would've at least hinted that there was a reason not to—"

Before she could say anymore, Lucy raced out.

"Alright then, next." Daniella ran out and stopped Sarah in the halls. "Sarah, you and Benny—"

"—are married and shouldn't fight. I know, but I think it's best for everyone if—"

"—you don't do this while you're pregnant?"

Sarah stared at her. "What?"

"Yeah, I got that same reaction from Lucy. Of course, you've been pregnant longer than she has. In fact, you're about due in another month or—"

Sarah darted off.

"—so." Daniella shrugged and told the same thing to Nadine (except for the whole due in the next few months part). "Phase one—announce good news to Lucy, Sarah, and Nadine, who didn't even think to check for pregnancy—complete. Commencing phase 2: give good news to Kelly and Brenda." She walked off to Brenda's room. A few minutes later, she came out and went to find Kelly, who was once again on the roof. "Hey, Kelly. Need some company?" Kelly sighed and nodded, glumly. Daniella sat down next to her niece. "Still reeling over Austin?" Kelly nodded again. "Perhaps now is a good time to tell you…by Anasalan law, you two are married." Kelly brightened up slightly. "Have been for four years now."

Kelly looked at her aunt. "We have?"

"Oh, you have no idea how relieved I am that you didn't just say 'what?'"

Kelly smiled and ran away.

Daniella sighed, smiling, and propped her feet on the ledge. "My work here is done."

(Clique Girlz' "Kiss Me" plays in background)

Nadine came to Ryan's room and frantically knocked on the door.

_There's no question what has brought me here to you_

_I can see it in the sky (sky)_

_A perfect answer coming right out of the blue_

_You won't find me asking why (what I can't do)_

Ryan finally gave in and opened the door, letting Nadine come tumbling in.

_Any less than 100%_

_Of something heaven-sent_

_Yeah-eh-eh!_

"What is it?" Ryan asked, somewhat begrudgingly.

Nadine smiled at him. "I'm pregnant."

_So kiss me like you mean it_

_Tell me something true_

'_Cause I wanna believe in me_

_And you_

Ryan stared at her. "What?"

"You heard me! I'm pregnant! We can't split up!"

_Pieces in a puzzle_

_Your beautiful clue_

_So let's forget the things we thought we knew_

Ryan smiled, closed the door, and kissed her.

_And kiss me like you mean it_

_Like it's the last thing you'll ever do_

(Songs fades into "Love Will Find a Way" from Lion King 2)

Benny was sitting on his bed, moping. Then he heard a frantic knock on the door (sound familiar?).

_In a perfect world_

_One we've never known_

_We would never need_

_To face the world alone_

Benny got up and went to the door. "Who is it?"

"Sarah."

Benny sighed and hesitated.

_They can have the world_

_We'll create our own_

_I may not be brave_

_Or strong or smart_

_But somewhere in my secret heart_

Benny started to open the door and then stopped. He leaned against it, sighed, and closed his eyes.

"Look, I know I pretty much dumped you," Sarah said through the door, "But we need to talk. And if you won't talk to me, at least listen."

_I know_

_Love will find a way_

_Anywhere I go_

_I'm home_

_If you are there beside me_

"I was scared…for your safety and mine. I wasn't thinking straight. But now I know. We're in love, that's all that matters. Us…and our child."

Benny opened his eyes. He quickly opened the door and let in his wife.

_Like dark_

_Turning into day_

_Somehow we'll come through_

_Now that I've found you_

"You're pregnant?" Benny asked. Sarah nodded. Benny stared at her and finally smiled…and they kissed.

_Love will find a way_

(Song fades into "Kissin U" by Miranda Cosgrove)

_Sparks fly_

_It's like electricity_

_I might die_

_When I forget how to breathe_

_You get closer_

_And there's nowhere_

_In this world I'd rather be_

Lucy came up to Robert in the living room and sat next to him on the couch. "Robert…I'm sorry."

Robert looked at her and then back at his feet.

_Time stops_

_Like everything around me_

_Is frozen_

_And nothing matters but these_

_Few moments_

_When you open_

_My mind to things I've never seen_

"I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about you and Nadine, I…it was a traumatic moment. Now that can't happen again…if we're gonna be having a kid."

Robert looked at her.

'_Cause when I'm kissing you, my senses come alive_

_Almost like the puzzle piece I've been trying to find_

_Falls right into place_

_You're all that it takes_

_My doubts fade away_

_When I'm kissing you_

"That's right, Robert," Lucy said, "I'm pregnant."

_When I'm kissing you, it all starts making sense_

_And all the questions I've been asking in my head_

_Like "Are you the one?"_

"_Should I really trust?"_

_Crystal clear it becomes_

_When I'm kissing you_

"How?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really." Robert kissed her.

(Song fades to "That Kiss" by Tiffany Alvord)

Brenda came into Jack's room. She had her own approach for this.

_You and me, we used to be friends_

_Nothing more and nothing less_

_You and me, we used to hang out_

_Never, ever thinking about_

"Hi, Jack," said Brenda.

He looked at her. "Hey, Brenda."

_More than you and more than me_

_A growing love that we didn't see_

"It takes time, you know," Brenda said, "Trust has to be built on both sides. We have to learn if we're even the same people we were, if we can still fit in each other's lives."

_Until this kiss_

_That was more than this_

_It was more than us_

_Just being friends_

"It's a long, important process and…can't we just skip it? Can't you just be kissing me now?"

Jack smiled and ran over and kissed her.

_This kiss_

_Was a magical thing_

_My heart did fly and the angels did sing_

"This may be a good time to tell you that we're married and I'm pregnant," said Brenda when they parted.

Jack fainted.

_Oh-oh-oh-oh_

(Song fades to "Homeless Heart" by Jennette McCurdy)

Kelly came into Austin's building. "Hey."

He came into the room and looked at her. "Hey."

Kelly smiled. _Same old brooding Austin._

_Lonesome stranger_

_With a crowd around you_

_I see who you are_

"There's something I need to tell you," Kelly said.

Austin looked at her.

_You joke, they laugh_

_Till the show is over_

_Then you fall so hard_

"Austin, I…we're married." Austin stared at her in shock. "And I did a spell before leaving the tower to check and…I'm pregnant." He kept staring at her.

_If you're needing_

_A soul-to-soul connection_

_I'll run to your side_

"OK, let me do what you're supposed to do right now…" Kelly dropped her bag, ran at him, and kissed him.

_When you're lost in the dark_

_When you're out in the cold_

_When you're looking for_

_Something that resembles your soul_

They finally parted, gazed at each other, smiled, and went back to kissing.

_When the wind blows your house of cards_

_I'll be a home to your homeless heart…_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kelly snuck into Tech's lab and saw him tinkering away on some crazy device from under a table. "Dad? What're you doing?"

"Working. This better be something important."

"It is… You're gonna be a grandfather."

Tech wasn't listening, he was busy. "Yeah, yeah, that's great."

Kelly knelt down next to him. "Dad, Austin and I are having a baby."

Tech caught that. He looked at her.

"I'm pregnant."

Tech started to get up. "You—OWCH!" He'd hit his head on his table. He regenerated. "You what?"

Kelly smiled. "I was hoping you'd do that. You remember how full Vamps can't have kids?"

"Yeah?"

"Apparently, half-Vamps can."

Tech smiled. "I'm OK with this."

"Really?"

"I can handle it."

"Great!" Kelly hugged him. "I love you, Dad!"

Sarah rushed in. "Am I interrupting something?"

Tech got up, Kelly following. "Well, your sister's pregnant."

"Really?! So am I!"

"WHAT?!" both coyotes cried, Kelly rather excitedly but Tech kind of confused and a little shocked.

"Benny and I are having a kid and I'm apparently due in the next few months!"

"Man, it must be hard for anthros and Witches to notice pregnancy," said Kelly, "Look at how we keep getting word late!"

"Great," said Tech, "Now both my eldest daughters are pregnant. Anything else you wanna tell me?"

Ryan rushed in with Nadine. "Nadine's pregnant! I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Apparently so."

"You know, as much as our group tends to get every girl pregnant at the same time," said Sarah, "I imagine Brenda and Lucy are getting there, too."

"I wouldn't be surprised," said Nadine. The four future parents ran off to check their theory.

Tech stood there alone. He looked back at his device. "Looks like it's just you and me." _BOOM! _Tech stood there as dust. "Of course." He disintegrated and regenerated. "I hate my life sometimes."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Sophie finished making cookies. And by that I mean "finished zapping them up."

Gabby started to grab one…

Sophie slapped her hand. "20 minutes to dinner. Let's not spoil it." She went to put down her hot wand.

Gabby crossed her arms and turned around. "I wanted that cookie." The cookie started floating… "I really wanted that cookie."

The cookie started to move toward her…

Sophie whirled around, saw this, and grabbed it.

Gabby sensed these actions and turned around.

As soon as she saw her daughter moving, Sophie stuffed the cookie in her mouth.

Gabby saw her. "Are you eating a cookie?"

"No," Sophie denied through a full mouth. She then saw the others coming and raced to the hall. "Gabby's premature. She's way premature!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Daniella.

"Look at her! She's doing magic right now!" Sophie turned around to see Gabby levitating a cookie subconsciously again. "Oh, not again!" She raced over and took the cookie and hid it behind her back. When Gabby looked at her this time, she gave her a fake smile.

Daniella stared at these events. "Wow."

_A couple weeks later…_

The gang was collected in the lobby.

Nadine was holding up a big book. "Even if it takes all night, we are going to figure this out!" She dropped the book on the table and opened it. "OK, boy names…"

"Do we really have to read a whole baby name dictionary for five kids?" asked Sarah.

"You're almost due, we might as well do it now."

"Alright. You know what else we should do while I'm almost due? Feed me! I'm eating for two and we're both starving!"

"Come on," said Kelly, dragging her off, "Let's get you to the kitchen ASAP." She pulled her up to the kitchen and they met Ryan there. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting out of going through an entire dictionary of baby names _and_ fixing what's wrong with Rev's inventions."

Kelly snatched the device he was fiddling with. "You don't have Dad's regeneration. Let's not get you electrocuted."

_Meanwhile…_

Jesse approached Hunter. "When are we gonna kick this plan of yours into action?"

"It starts now. With a little thing I like to call a citywide blackout." He hit a button.

_Back at the tower…_

The three coyote future parents got into the elevator and hit the button to send it to the lobby. The doors closed.

Suddenly, Sarah started groaning. "Oh, I don't feel so good."

"Well, maybe you ate too much back there."

Sarah glared at him. "When you're eating for two, it's kind of hard to tell."

"Right. Maybe the _baby_ ate too much."

Kelly glared at him.

Before they could get any further with that, the elevator stopped and the lights flickered and went out.

The others in the lobby experienced a loss of light as well.

"Emergency power on," a voice came out as lesser lights turned on.

"Uh oh," said Ryan, "The power's out."

"Uh oh," said Kelly, "That means the elevator's stuck!"

"Uh oh," said Sarah, "I think my water broke!"

"I'm sure Dad can fix it when we get out of here!" Ryan said.

Kelly glared at him again. "She means the baby's coming!"

"How do you know all this?"

"Because unlike every guy on our team—and, surprisingly, you—_I_ stayed awake in health class!"

"So what do we do about this?"

"Well, we'll need boiling water, towels, twine, and scissors."

"Let me check the elevator gift shop." Ryan turned around. "Oh, look." He turned back to his sisters. "THERE ISN'T ONE!"

"Then we'll zap the stuff up!" Kelly reached down to get her wand out of her boot…then realized she was wearing sandals. "Our wands are in the lobby."

"So what do we do now?" Ryan asked over their sister's screams.

"This." She started pounding on the elevator door as hard as she could. "HELP! HELP!"

Ryan stopped her. "That's what I missed in health class?"

Kelly looked at him.

They both started pounding the door and crying out.

The others in the lobby heard this.

"Tell me I'm not the only one hearing that," said Lexi.

"I hear it, too…" Austin said.

"Sounds like it's coming from the elevator," said Sophie, running over there. She pressed her ear against the door. "It's Kelly and Ryan! The elevator's stuck!"

"I thought the emergency power was on!" said Lucy.

"Yeah-but-it-doesn't-power-the-elevator," Rev explained, "it-just-powers-the-lights-in-it-I'll-have-to-go-reprogram-the-generator."

"I'll come with you," said Tech.

"Thanks-it's-at-the-top-of-the-roof."

Tech put a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck."

Rev glared at him for a split second and then raced off.

"It sounds like Sarah's water broke," said Lexi.

"HOW'S SARAH DOING?!" Benny cried, "CAN SHE HOLD ON?!"

"I'll ask her," Ryan's voice came through the elevator doors.

"_AAAAAAHHHHHHH!_"

"That would be a 'no!'"

Kelly was trying to help her sister. "Just deep breaths, in and out, in and out."

Ryan was doing so. "How's this?"

Kelly glared at him. "Not you! Sarah!"

Ryan stopped.

Kelly knelt down next to her. "Alright, different approach: deep but short breaths. Like this…" She started to demonstrate.

Sarah followed her example and calmed down, resting a hand on her engorged womb.

Kelly, meanwhile, was breathing too shortly and her half-dead heart overreacted to it so she hyperventilated and fell against the elevator wall.

Ryan started to help her up. "Please, one pregnant coyote on the floor is enough." He grabbed her arms and used them as supports to keep her from collapsing. "What should I do?"

"Catch the baby when it comes out."

Ryan dropped her. "_SO_ not happening!"

The elevator opened.

"Oh, good, Rev fixed it," said Sophie.

Michael took one look in the elevator as Kelly and Ryan piled out and immediately recoiled. "OK. It's official. I'm never having kids."

Rev came back down. "All-fixed-everybody's-happy."

"_AAAAAAHHHHH!_"

"OK-not-quite-everyone."

"What should we do?" asked Wendy.

"Call an ambulance, a midwife—" Benny said, pacing.

"There's a blackout," said Nadine, "The roads are gonna be blocked."

Benny looked at Lexi and the triplets. "You guys should know what to do! You've had plenty of kids!"

Wendy looked at him. "Well, I'm sorry, but I was a little too busy screaming TO TAKE NOTES!"

"OK, new plan," said Lexi, "We get some towels and do a home delivery." She pulled Ace, Sophie, and Tech into the elevator. She then dragged in Duck.

"OK, honey, just push," said Sophie, "Push…easy on my hand!"

"Somebody have a blanket?" asked Ace.

Kelly yanked Austin's jacket off. "Here!" She tossed it in.

Austin looked at her.

Sarah's screams stopped when they heard a baby crying.

Benny held up a baby coyote.

Everyone looked at the baby.

"I withdraw my previous statement," said Michael.

Kelly smiled at him.

Benny handed the baby to Sarah as they helped her onto the couch and then handed Austin's jacket back.

Austin just blinked at it. "I'm good."

Benny dropped the jacket on the floor.

"I haven't seen anything this beautiful since Rebekka was born," said Daniella, clutching Rev's hand.

"And it's a good thing the baby came now since I have the name dictionary out," said Nadine.

"OK, we're doing this upstairs." Benny pulled Sarah over to the stairs.

Kelly smiled at them.

_Meanwhile…_

Jesse looked at her brother. "What does this accomplish?"

"Well, for one thing…security's down at the museum holding our prize."

Jesse thought this over for a second and finally smiled as evilly as she could.

_Ten minutes later…_

As security guards scrambled through the halls of the town museum, trying to get the emergency power working on the security, two ran down one hall.

The two were suddenly grabbed by the throats and pulled into the rafters. After a few minutes, Hunter and Jesse dropped down instead.

"Well, let's get to it then, shall we?" Hunter rushed over to a stand and pulled off the steel-bound glass as if it weighed as much as a cardboard box.

Jesse then snatched the golden diamond contained inside and rushed off through the shadows.

Hunter placed the glass back in the exact position it had been in before and followed.

They left no trace that they were ever there except for the empty case…

…and the fact that two skeletons, appearing to have been dead for twenty years rather than twenty seconds, still dressed in their uniforms and toting their weapons, were tied to the rafters by the same dark energy that had taken all of their life force in a single moment…


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Only two days later, everyone was gathered in the living room of the tower.

Sarah and Benny sat together on the couch, holding the little coyote baby.

"Hannah Australia Bunny," Sarah smiled, "See, Nadine? We can come up with good names without that stinking dictionary."

Nadine was flipping through the book. Finally, she sighed and tossed it aside. "I can't argue. 'Australia' isn't even in here."

Suddenly, Zadavia appeared on the screen. "Team, we have a problem! The museum has finally finished searching the premises in the aftermath of the blackout the other night when they had no security. They found two skeletons that were clearly the remains of two of the guards who had been on duty _that night_. And one of the jewels in that same hall was missing. This is a picture." A picture appeared over her on the screen of the golden diamond that had been stolen.

Daniella, Wendy, and Sophie looked…and all three at once went into shock, freezing.

Ace noticed first. "You girls recognize it…?"

Daniella quickly dropped what she was doing and rushed to grab a book. She flipped through it until she found what she was looking for and held it up. "That's the Titan Stone!"

"Even _I _know that's bad!" Wendy cried.

Kelly groaned. "Tell me it's not another Janus stone."

"Worse. It literally connects to the power of Titans—the evil immortals."

"Whoever took it," Sophie continued, "could easily destroy us in one sweep if they unlocked that power!"

Lexi then looked closer at the picture. "Ace…Tech, Duck, Rev, Slam…does that picture look familiar to you?"

Duck scoffed. "Oh, come on! We never go to that museum—" He then _really _looked closer. "…oh boy…"

Tech carefully took the book from Daniella, as if afraid it would fall apart in his hands. "That museum was being robbed on one of our first successful missions together. That jewel was the target. There were three robbers, 17 hostages—we were still a little out of the popular know at the time so we took them by surprise. You don't think they knew about more than its mortal-market value, do you?"

Daniella sighed. "Mortal-market? Maybe a couple thousand. Magic-market? They could do the ritual and take the whole realm and _all its riches_. If they had enough hostages, they could easily have taken any of the _crown_ jewels in that building, but they struck specifically at the Titan Stone. They _must _have known."

"Maybe one of the robbers came back for the Stone," suggested Brenda, placing a hand on her engorged womb, "If the museum security shorted out, who's to say the jail's didn't short out, too?!"

"I hate to admit it," Zadavia spoke up, "but Brenda's idea is valid. The jail would've called if something was wrong, but their communications are still down. The blackout was citywide."

"Who's got the power to knock out the entire power grid?" Benny asked.

"Well, none of those robbers did," Tech said. Then growled. "But I can think of a couple people who can."

_A few hours later…_

Nadine, Benny, Robert, Ryan, Michael, Tech, Ace, Rev, Daniella, Wendy, and Sophie rushed into the jail.

The warden instantly took notice of them. "Oh! Good! You're here! We're still accounting for all the prisoners, but it seems some of them might have gotten loose when the power was knocked out." He led them over to the console.

Tech instantly sifted through the files. "We think an old enemy might be responsible for the blackout. It was citywide, so it must have been rigged. But there are only a handful of people capable of that and the most likely choice is dead."

"Well, I can't think of any of our prisoners that might be responsible—especially since the high-level security prisoners that have yet to be accounted for probably didn't get loose until _after _the blackout."

Tech then came to ones that were loose. "You can't find these five?"

"Yeah, but just those five so far. Any others are not a big deal at the moment."

Tech stepped aside.

The other ten who had come along checked.

Weathervane  
Electro J. Fudd  
Massive  
Ophiuchus Sam  
Black Velvet

"Weathervane and Massive have the power to short out the power grid," Ace said, "And a blackout is right up Velvet's alley."

"Yeah, but, like the warden said," Nadine said, "they didn't get out until after the blackout shorted the security."

Daniella looked at her husband. "Rev. Your turn."

Rev rushed to the console and started sifting through the criminal files as fast as he could go (well, as fast as the computer could go, he could go faster than that). "The-three-robbers-from-the-jewel-heist-are-still-locked-up-in-fact-it-seems-one-of-them-died-about-five-years-ago-still-behind-bars."

Ryan looked at the console suspiciously. "Give me a second." He put his hand to the console and the monitor flickered as his eyes flashed green. "Well, it's not been tampered with. At least not recently. All the files are as accurate as the staff can get them."

"And what if the staff is wrong?" Michael asked in concern, "What then?"

The warden stepped back in. "I can assure you, we're holding things up as best we can. But in light of recent circumstances, things are getting a bit…out of hand around here."

Benny looked at him suspiciously. "'Recent circumstances'? Plural? The blackout wasn't your first problem?"

The warden sighed. "Son, a lot of odd things have been happening lately. Just last week, we had at least 15 problems, some of which we still haven't been able to handle. For instance, one of the general population female prisoners suddenly snapped the other day. In the middle of a run, she broke out screaming and attacked five of the other prisoners. They're all dead. She seemed to have stabbed them in the neck, but we couldn't find a knife on her, in range of her, or even in her possession."

At that, the 11 heroes exchanged looks.

Robert came forward. "You wouldn't happen to have pictures of the bodies or anything, would you?"

The warden nodded and pulled them up on the console.

They looked.

Sure enough, every victim had two bloody holes in their neck.

Wendy quickly turned her attention to the warden. "Where are they now?"

"Bodies disappeared. Killer's still in a high-security containment cell."

"We need to see her. Now."

_Ten minutes later…_

The 11 were led to a containment cell and left to their business.

Sure enough, there sat a young woman, her dark hair shaggy and matted, her skin turned silvery, and her eyes shadowy red. She seemed pretty thin for a monster.

Daniella looked at her nine companions and nodded to them to let her handle it. She entered the cell and sat down. "Hey."

The girl glared at her. "Get out."

"Wow. I thought you'd jump on the chance for another victim."

She looked at her. "You know—"

"It's kind of hard to miss."

"I…" She started coughing.

Daniella caught sight of a water glass lying nearby and, sighing, handed it over.

The girl took it and scurried away into a corner to drink it.

"How'd it happen?"

"Don't know."

"I'd think you'd recall something like what happened to you."

"It didn't happen. It just…became."

Daniella blinked. "What are you talking about—"

"I felt it. It tore through me. Made me do…what I did."

"You mean when you killed those other prisoners."

"I did bad things the first time around. But it never went higher than shoplifting. This was way out of my league."

"Especially given how you did it."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"You kind of did."

"Get out!"

Daniella sighed and walked off, leaving her be, still stuck in her cell. She suddenly stopped walking and looked back. "I didn't catch a name."

She sighed. "…Jasmine."

"Jasmine…blooms at night."

She just turned away. "Are you leaving or not?"

Daniella turned back to her friends and pulled them off.

Wendy scoffed as they left. "'Blooms at night.' Appropriate."

"She's not a Vampire."

Wendy froze, as did the others. "What?! What do you mean she's not a—"

Daniella held up her right arm and pulled down her sleeve to reveal an empty vial of holy water there. It'd been emptied into the water glass. "If she were, she'd be dust by now."

Sophie processed this. "So what is she?"

Daniella hesitated… "A Blood Demon."

Sophie blinked in shock. "A…that can't be right."

"They said she just snapped. If it just happened last week…if my calculations over their report are right, it happened right as the moon hit its zenith. It was the first Blood Moon of the Cycle."

"Uh…what are we talking about?" asked Robert, everyone else (except the triplets, obviously) agreeing.

Daniella sighed. "A Blood Demon is a demon that feeds the same way a Vampire does. Only their victims don't turn into Vampires or demons or anything, they become Ashes—and don't ask me to explain that one, it's actually kind of complicated. The Blood Demon can reproduce the way a human does, though. And when the child of a Blood Demon stands under the light of a Blood Moon, things go bad. They begin to lose their human qualities. Worst of all, this one came in a Cycle—that one time every few years when there's more than one. This one will have three. On the next, she'll not only have the ability to awaken power, it will be awakened. On the third, she'll lose her soul. And, as we all know, it's all downhill from there."

"Why would she have a Blood Demon parent and not even know about it or anything?" Wendy asked.

"I looked at her file. Her mother died about ten years ago—only eight before she was convicted. That must have been it, she didn't get a chance to tell her." She sighed. "…so I looked into her mother's file…and it turns out she was one of the hostages in the heist that tried to take the Titan Stone."

That drew attention.

"You don't think…" Sophie panicked, "…that maybe some of the Stone's power got unleashed?"

Daniella sighed. "There's no way to know…but I'm afraid to say 'yes.'"

"Well, if it went straight from Titan to Blood Demon, there's no telling what happened to the others!"

"That's it," Ryan suddenly realized, "That's it! It's not one of the robbers we're dealing with! One of the _hostages_ came around."

Tech then realized his son was right. "One of the hostages…or their kids…no wonder we couldn't figure it out!"

Suddenly, their COMMs were ringing.

Ace answered. "What's up, doc?"

_"Guys, we have a problem!" Lexi's voice came through in a panic, "Weathervane and Massive are causing havoc downtown."_

The 11 of them exchanged looks. Now they felt stupid. In their rush to handle their occult issues, it'd slipped their mind that five old enemies had broken out.

"How much time do we have until something goes wrong?" Michael asked.

_"Maybe about ten minutes—WHOA!" BANG! "…make that five."_

"We're coming!" Benny said.

They went running. They finally came back to the main room.

"Get us out, warden, we've got prison bait to catch," Robert smirked.

The warden started to open the door—

Suddenly, the lights went out.

The warden hit the override but nothing happened.

_"Thanks for finding our prize, Loonies," a voice sounded over the intercom, "We'll just leave you to enjoy a taste of your own sentencing."_

The warden kept hitting the system circuits but nothing was working. "Someone's shorted out the controls on the locks! Everything's staying shut!"

Ryan came forward and sent a pulse of technopathic charge through the system. It ricocheted. He was sent flying into a railing and fell to the floor.

"Well, that didn't work," Michael sighed. He opened his COMM. "Guys! I know you've got problems of your own, but we could really use some help here!" All he got in return was static. "Hello? Guys? Lex? Kelly? Sarah? ANYONE!" He groaned. "Even _our_ communications are broken!"

"They're not broken, someone shorted them out," Tech said, "Whoever this is wants us locked in. For good."

Suddenly, Nadine screamed.

Ryan quickly took his wife's side. "It's OK, we'll get out."

Nadine looked at him. "…it's not that…"

Ryan took a second…then figured out just what she meant. The last few minutes had pushed her over the edge two months early. Her water broke. "…aw, nuts."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Lexi, Duck, Slam, Jack, Austin, and Sarah were fighting away against Weathervane and Massive.

Not going so well.

Finally, Jack used his telekinesis to prop a table up in front of them as a shield. When Massive started attempting to pull it back and against them, he fought it hard. "Plan…would be good…right about now…" he groaned as he fought psychically against the gravitational pull of their enemy.

Lexi quickly opened her COMM again. "Ace! Benny! Guys! A little help would be good! How much longer till you get here?!" All she got was static, same as the other end. "Guys?!" Still nothing. She shut off her COMM. "I don't think they're coming any time soon."

"Well, the only other reinforcements we have are either in single-digit age or between five and eight months pregnant!" Sarah snapped, "So what do we do?!"

That's when Jack's hold fell.

Massive tossed the table out of the way. "Looks like you'll have to lose." He then held the table over their heads and increased the weight…

_At the jail…_

Nadine was now lying down on the jail floor, screaming every minute or so.

"Remind me again why we took my seven-months pregnant wife to investigate the prison with us?!" Ryan growled at the others.

"She volunteered!" Sophie sighed, "Besides, it's not like she'd be faring any better with the others! …well, she wouldn't be in labor, but…"

"Not helping!" Nadine groaned out, breathing shallowly yet rapidly.

_Back at the fight…_

The table was getting closer fast.

Slam and Austin quickly put their strength together to hold it over their heads.

Austin started groaning with the effort within the first second. "Might wanna run now…table's really heavy…Vampire strength ain't what it used to be…!"

Lexi, Duck, Jack, and Sarah rushed out of the way.

Austin then made use of his Vampire speed. Once he and Slam started losing their hold, he pushed him out of the way, letting the table slam into the ground and make a large pothole (or table-hole, whatever).

Weathervane growled and started in her own trouble. "Think you're so cool, don't you? Why don't we test that theory? Blizzard anyone?!" She held out her storm power and formed a dark and dreary cloud layer.

Snow and ice started falling at bullet speed to them.

Lexi quickly brain-blasted apart all the hail she could.

Sarah screamed back what she could, holding an echo to keep it back.

Duck started tossing fire eggs every which way. "Where's Nadine when you need her?!"

_At the jail…_

Daniella was trying to keep Nadine calm. The contractions weren't getting there. "…keep calm…keep calm…why can't I keep calm?!"

Nadine glared. "You're not…helping either!"

One of the guards then rushed up. "We can't find the doctor. And that Jasmine kid is missing!"

Nadine groaned and leaned her head on the wall. "That's _really _not helping!"

_At the bad guys' lair…_

Jesse saw everything. "You've done a good job, brother."

Hunter smirked. "And it only gets better from here. Tomorrow night's the next Blood Moon in the Cycle. And our new guest of honor will be showing some pretty fantastic fireworks that night…"

Jasmine sat in the corner, looking at them in shock.

_At the fight scene…_

Lexi fell against a building, shivering and rubbing her arms in the cold. "SARAH?! AUSTIN?! SLAM!" She couldn't see anyone past the winds of snow and the noise of the blizzard was drowning out all the other sounds. She knew that, by now, Weathervane and Massive had fled the scene and were off going about their crimes. Suddenly, she found herself wondering why the foolishly-conceived argument of the jailbreak possibilities had convinced them to send so many of their teammates to investigate the prison.

Man, it was cold!

Lexi collapsed in the snow, freezing her cottontail off. _Cottontail…Lucy…_ At least she knew the pregnant among the gang were safe with the children at the tower. Problem was, their enemies knew where the tower was and could easily break in through _the living room window _or any other way they pleased. How long would it be before their weakest were the next target of attack? She couldn't let that happen.

Lexi started crawling through the snow until she found a tree. She climbed up and hid inside the warm-by-comparison safety of the branches. She nestled up in a ball between the leaves (how long would it be before those fell to the blizzard and the whole plan went kablooey, she wondered) and opened her COMM again. "Please work, please work, please work…" She dialed it until she got a signal. It was staticky, but at least it was a signal. "Nadine! Benny! Lucy! Ace! Someone answer! I think Weathervane and Massive are attacking the tower! I've lost sight of Duck, Slam, Jack, Austin, and Sarah in a blizzard Weathervane formed and I can't see a foot in front of me! Hello?!" It wasn't working. Either the signal was scrambled or the COMM units were broken—there was no telling which until she could get a hold of Tech, which wasn't likely at the moment.

Suddenly, the branches were rustling. She clung tight, her eyes glowing pink as she prepared for a fight—

It was only Austin.

Lexi sighed, calming down her powers. "Are you OK?"

"Luckily, one of the Vamp capabilities I still have is a temperature resistance—as a walking corpse, cold didn't affect me. Plus, I have night vision."

"Well, we need to find the others or get to the tower. What if—"

"Calm down, I think Weathervane and Massive are off pulling some heists. It'll probably be a while before they make it anywhere near the others." He then smirked. "Besides, they're not at the tower."

Lexi looked at him. "Huh?"

"I told Kelly to haul tail as soon as she couldn't reach us over the COMMs. They could be at the Runners' place on a surprise 'visit' by now."

"You couldn't have let us in on the plan?! Way to freak me out!"

"Sorry! Look, Duck has fire eggs, Slam generates a lot of body heat, and I think Jack and Sarah were pretty close to each other when the blizzard actually started having blinding effects, so they're probably close together right now."

"Well, how do we get out of this?"

"I think I have a plan. The building behind the tree has a highly effective A/C system. As well it should, it's a bakery. If we can jump out of the tree and rush into the building without losing sight of it or each other, we can easily reroute their systems and shoo off the last of Weathervane's hold—or as much as we can, at least, but that shouldn't be a problem since she's not here to hold it up."

Lexi considered. Neither of them really had a tech-savvy brain like Tech or Ryan, but, as far as she could tell, it should work. "OK, tell me when we're ready."

Austin quickly grabbed her wrist, holding as tight as his Vampire strength would allow without breaking her arm. "1…2…3!"

They both jumped from the tree and rushed through the winds to the bakery. Once they could see the double glass doors, they rushed it.

The doors were locked and wouldn't budge.

The two exchanged looks. Then smirks. Then Austin pried the lock apart with his Vamp strength and Lexi brain-blasted the other lock down. The doors swung open then.

They quickly rushed to get the doors closed. Now that they were in a safe and not-so-cold environment, they could think straight and easily locate the rest of the plan. They rushed to the heating and cooling system and cranked it as high as it could go. Lexi fired up all the ovens and Austin turned off all the freezers. Once everything was ready, they rerouted all the systems.

The hot air flew through the vents to the blizzard, dispelling the snow completely as soon as the full blast did its magic.

"I can't believe that worked," Lexi sighed.

"Neither can I," Austin added, "I felt sure it was kind of Duck-level."

Lexi shrugged. Then another idea hit her. "Does this place have a communications computer?"

"It's a bakery, Lexi." He then thought it over. "Then again, it is the 28th century—_late_ 28th century, at that—so, most likely, yes."

"I'll patch my COMM signal in, maybe we can get a feed on the others. While I'm working, go find Duck, Slam, Jack, and Sarah."

Austin nodded and rushed off.

Lexi then rushed to locate the computer. She finally found a computer room and set to work. It took a minute for the system to turn on, but she finally got it working and set to patching in her COMM signal.

While it was still loading, the others came in.

"Hey!" Sarah sighed with relief, "You're OK! What are you doing?"

Lexi looked at the computer. The loading was over. "Either contacting the others or making a complete fool of myself—we're about to find out which." She turned on her COMM unit. "Guys! Can you hear me?! Is anyone there?!"

_"We're fine, Lex," Kelly's voice came through, "Happy to hear you again and hiding with Rip, but we're fine."_

_"Yeah, no contractions or anything," Brenda's smirking voice added on._

"And the kids, are they safe?" Lexi asked in worry.

_"Ask them."_

_"Hi, Mommy!" Virginia's small voice sounded._

Lexi sighed with relief. "I was so worried. Weathervane and Massive were out—"

_"And Fudd, Sam, and Velvet, as far as my visions can tell," Kelly pointed out._

"WHAT?!"

_"The prison couldn't find them when security came back up. In fact, if that much is right, then the others are trapped in the prison right now!"_

"Well, are they OK?"

_"I don't know, I can't tell."_

Lexi then realized…she wasn't hearing anything from the others trapped in the prison. The signal hadn't reached them. She quickly started fiddling with buttons and controls, not caring what she did wrong as long as it ended with something going right. She needed to know they were OK. "Ace? Nadine? Benny! Anyone!"

_"I think someone took out the systems, Lex," Kelly continued, "You won't be able to reach them from here!"_

"I'm guessing whoever took out the systems is the same person that caused the blackout the other night," Austin suggested.

_"Bingo, honey."_

"Isn't there some way we can reach them?" Sarah asked.

"Uh, hello!" Duck snapped, "Are we forgetting something here? Bad guys on the loose!"

"At least six of them, at that," Lexi groaned, "I think we're in over our heads, we'll need backup."

"What, do we call everyone in again?" Jack asked, "Like with Toymaker or with Valentina and Esmeralda? Don't you think we've bothered them enough already?!"

"We can't take the risk! We need help!"

_"Tell you what," Lucy jumped in, "We'll go with Rip to scope out the prison. If we can get the others out, we'll do it. If not, then _we'll _call in everyone."_

_"I think we're overlooking a possibility, people," Brenda pointed out, "See, we don't know who Black-Out-Baddy is, let alone where they are or what they're up to. …what if they've already gotten to the others?"_


End file.
